The Ekurhuleni Metro received a qualified audit report from the Auditor-General (AG) for the 2023/24 financial year.
On the positive side, there is a surplus, improved cash flow and an increase in revenue, which indicates better financial planning.
On the negative side, there is an alarming level of irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure reflected in the audit report.
This indicates that the Metro’s financial management is still not entirely effective and transparent.
The FF Plus is concerned about the implementation of the budget seeing as the projected revenue is 14,3% less than what was budgeted, and bulk costs have risen.
So, even though revenue is growing, there is still an imbalance between expected and actual financial performance.
Another cause for concern is that outsourced services kept climbing while the Metro does possess the institutional knowledge, skills and resources in certain fields to provide those services.
At the moment, outsourced services is one of the Metro’s biggest expenses.
Although there are positive aspects to the AG’s report, financial management and money wasting remain problematic.
The FF Plus is of the opinion that if drastic action is not taken to curb irregular and excessively high expenditure and improve the collection rate, the Metro may still face a financial crisis.
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